Author: Drew Neisser

Over the years, my experiences with car services have been less than satisfactory. Most of the time the reservation process is cumbersome, the driver is no where to be found especially if you’re plane is late and the added costs for “waiting time” always seem exorbitant. So, admittedly I have low expectations for the category and would be ready to switch in a heart beat if a better service were to come along. I recently learned from a colleague about a greener service called OZOcar (thanks Fanny). Assuming they can at least match my low expectations on service and offer comparable rates then Renegade will be switching to OZOcar faster than you can say “so reduce your carbon footprint already.”

Here’s a quick look at OZOcar based on their website:

OZOcar is New York’s first hybrid luxury car service that won’t compromise your conscience because in an OZOcar, luxury and responsibility co-exist.

The OZOcar fleet is entirely comprised of hybrid cars which use 70% less fuel than conventional Lincoln Towncars and yellow cabs. At low speeds, the cars operate using an electric motor with zero emissions making them ideal for a dense urban environment like Manhattan, where traffic regularly travels below 30mph.

By lowering both energy usage and emissions, OZOcar is committed to minimizing its impact on the environment while helping to reduce our dependence on imported oil. Our goal is to provide our customers with unparalleled service using the cleanest and most advanced technologies available.

OZOcar’s fleet of Toyota and Lexus cars features the most energy efficient hybrid engine on the market today. Our mid-size car, the award-winning Prius, is distinctive, elegant and quieter than a regular car. It generates up to 89% fewer smog-forming emissions than the average new car. When a larger vehicle is needed, OZOcar will provide a luxury full-size hybrid model, such as the Lexus Rx 400h.

Perks: Check your email with the high-speed wireless connection provided in every car. Choose your own satellite radio station.

What I really like here is that OZOcar is promising a better service AND a greener service. With real service enhancements, OZOcar has a chance to gain a sustainable competitive advantage that is good for their business and the world they share. Can’t wait to take a ride and confirm that they deliver on their promises.

NOTE: Their website also provides some helpful information on carbon footprints and how to calculate:

A Carbon Footprint is a measure of the impact of human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases produced. It is measured in units of carbon dioxide.

You can minimize your impact becoming aware, making better consumer and behavioral choices, and taking steps to offset your Carbon Footprint.

1. First step is to calculate your Carbon Footprint:
http://www.carbonfootprint.com/USA/calculator.html

2. Then learn about ways to reduce your impact:
http://www.carbonfootprint.com/Minimise_cfp.html

3. Carbon Offsetting is a way of compensating for the emissions produced with an equivalent carbon dioxide saving. It involves buying ‘carbon offset’ credits from emission reduction projects. Such projects will prevent / have already prevented or removed an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide elsewhere in the World. As CO_2 emissions are distributed across the World, it does not matter whether you make the reduction in Manchester or Mumbai – the positive effect on the environment will be the same*.*
http://www.carbonfootprint.com/carbon_offset.html

Thought you might find this email I just received from First Giving of interest. On first glance, this seems like a really good idea to me. I hope to have more time in the next few days to analyze this concept more carefully.

There are some exciting things going on at Firstgiving that we thought you might be interested in. We are reaching out to you and several other bloggers specifically because we read your blogs and we know that you “get” what we do and are out there already making a difference everyday.

Over the past few weeks, our developers have been working tirelessly on creating a fundraising application for Facebook; and we will be releasing it within the next few weeks! We are contacting you because we know that you understand how influential social networking can be for getting the word about the amazing things that people do to raise money for charity.

Our goal is to create the most user-friendly and far-reaching fundraising applications possible. As soon as the Facebook API was ready, so were we, because we know that our fundraisers are already using Facebook as an important platform for communicating with their online community.

So, how will it work?
For those that have a Firstgiving page, all you have to do is enter your page address when prompted. Your profile will then display your fundraising total and your friends will be able to donate from there. Donations your friends make are represented on your page and once the donations are mailed (or electronically transferred) they are attributed to you, so your nonprofit will know what you’re doing for them! Creating a page takes less than 5 minutes, so if you don’t already have one, go get one!

Your friends can also help you by using the app to promote your page on their Facebook profile. The donation process is totally secure and we transfer the funds directly to the charity. We accept credit cards from anywhere in the world.

Who are we?
We’re a small, sincere, hardworking group of people based in Somerville, MA (right outside of Boston) who believe that we are all a part of something bigger. We’ve been doing this in the US since 2003, while our sister company Justgiving has been doing it for UK charities since 2001.

You can find out more and see live fund raising pages at www.firstgiving.com and on our blog at http://firstgiving.typepad.com/communityblog/.
We’d love to hear what you think about what we’re doing and are always open to any questions or suggestions.

Best,
The Firstgiving team
firstgiving
48 Grove Street, #106
Somerville, MA 02144
(p) 617.591.2121 x1006
(f) 617.591.2127

I am using some of my time out of the office this week to help my city-raised daughter gain some driving experience on some low-trafficked roads in Canada. Teaching driving is definitely a lesson in self restraint as I try to let her get the feel of the wheel without issuing an all-points bulletin for mother’s to get their kids off the streets. I’m happy to report that she is making steady progress and we have only clipped one item; the handle of an upside down plastic trash can that was a wee bit too close to our path. “What trash can?” she asked as the back right tire ran over the handle again for good measure. Not surprisingly, I have scheduled these adventures right before cocktail hour since staying outwardly calm when your insides are sweating (and your right foot is wearing away the floor board) provokes the kind of anxiety only a “stiff one” can neutralize. And don’t forget, I’m supposed to be on vacation… So you can imagine my interest when I read about a new campaign from BMW promoting their driving school. Here’s a recap about it from MediaPost’s Online Media Daily:

BMW of North America launched a print and online campaign promoting its Performance Driving School in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Creative features a shady set of people, reminiscent of the characters that taught you how to drive. The campaign encourages drivers to realize that time — and driving techniques — have changed since their first driving lesson, prompting them to visit RelearnToDrive.com. The site features videos of nine oddball characters that capture the ways people may have been taught to drive, such as Grandpa’s take on driving a car: “It’s just like driving a submarine — except the car isn’t packed with torpedoes.” Visitors can send email postcards with video to friends, letting them know about their suspect driving skills. The campaign will appear in the August issues of Roundel, Autoweek and Road and Track, and in print and online versions of The Onion. Click here, here, here, here and here to see print and online ads.

Underneath all this good humor is a wonderful Marketing for Good case history in the making. BMW’s Performance Driving School is a clear example of marketing as service, at which BMW owners or wanna bees can perfect their driving skills–skills that will help these drivers truly appreciate and optimize the performance of their Ultimate Driving Machines. I also have little doubt that those who attend the BMW driving school (in addition to becoming better drivers which is good news for the rest of the world) will become vocal brand evangelists which will inevitably drive sales down the road. Though sending my daughter to this school is not an option it might be just the kind of refresher course this nerve-shattered driving instructor needs (and if means having to buy a BMW someday, all the tranquilizer-demanding anxiety might just have been worth it;-)

Being on vacation gives one the chance to sit back and observe things you might ordinarily miss. For example, yesterday my 16-year-old daughter came with me to the local Bell Canada “Hot Spot” so she could “play” on the internet. Twenty minutes later I asked about her excursion and it turns out she spent the entire time “hanging out on Facebook.” That’s what got her out of bed. Not the beautiful sunshine and a chance to work on her tan. Not a walk on the beach. Nope. All she wanted to do was catch up with her friends online. Without trying to pry too much, I asked her if she was using any Widgets. She said, “Of course, Dad,” acknowledging my question with proper teenage disdain. “My favorite is iLike,” she added right on cue explaining to me how she now shares iTunes playlists with her friends.

What is interesting to me here is how another company’s product is making Facebook even more appealing. Product enhancements don’t just have to come from your own R&D department–they can now come from anywhere. Apple has created an entire ecosystem with non-Apple products that enhance the performance of iPods. Even cars without an iPod connection and controller are at a competitive disadvantage. This model has been part of the computer world ever since IBM launched its first PC using a Microsoft operating system and an Intel processor. Most of the initial software used on these PCs were in fact made by other companies. But the idea of Widgets for virtual social networks like Facebook is a relatively new thing (or at least it seems new to me).

It is also a brilliant idea. Facebook users love it since it enhances their experience with little hassle and at no cost. They can try a widget at no risk and drop it if it doesn’t meet expectations. For marketers, creating widgets could become the ideal means of getting quality face time with Facebook users. An article by Emily Steel in yesterday’s Wall St. Journal noted how Facebook users hate advertising and love widgets. Delivering a marketing story via widgets is vastly preferable to this target than old-fashioned selling. But you better hurry because savvy marketers from Reebok to Disney are rushing out widgets as fast as you can say “Ratatouille.”

The key insight here is that consumers will embrace “value add” from marketers in just about any form. Marketing for Good embraces any marketing activity that enhances the customer experience, that transforms marketing into a service to your customers. Widgets are but one example of marketing as service. Creating entertaining “skins” or IMV’s for instant messaging services like Yahoo Messenger is another. In fact, there are an infinite number of ways to “add value” via marketing from live online customer support to training seminars to research studies to you name it. It simply starts by asking this question–how do I use my marketing dollars to help my customers instead of just trying to sell my stuff?

Okay, now its back to the beach. Happy 4th!

Even with cause marketing there can be too much of a good thing. A recent study by Boston-based brand-strategy firm Cone, as reported by Business Week:
Of the 1,066 adults polled online, 36% said they bought a product in the previous 12 months after learning of its maker’s commitment to social issues, down from 43% in 2004. Only 14% said they intentionally paid more for a product that supports a cause, down from 43% three years ago.

The devaluation of cause marketer reflects a number of converging factors. Most significantly, it seems that just about every company is flogging their cause du jour. The sheer volume of cause messaging simply numbs the senses, Also at issue is the fact that some of the corporate connections to the causes are tenuous at best and the commitment comes across as insincere. It is as if the corporate communications director said to his PR firm “Hey, get me a cause and do it on the double,” as opposed to finding a meaningful connection between the company, its employees and the cause.

Cause marketing, like all other marketing genres, requires strategic discipline, a long term plan and the will to cut through. From a strategy standpoint, marketer’s need to carefully define what they are hoping to accomplish and find the intrinsic link between the cause and the company. MAC Cosmetics carefully cultivated relationships with professional cosmetic artists as the foundation of its brand and was quick to support AIDS research funding when this group was initially affected by AIDS. Having a long term plan is essential to the success of cause marketing. Whirlpool has been working with Habitat for Humanity for years providing appliances for every new home they build. This long-term commitment is obvious to the consumer and enhances the brand appeal over-time.

Finally, cutting through requires zigging while all others zag. Finding a unique way to communicate your connection to a cause is as important as finding a fresh way to introduce a new product. Most cause marketing campaigns are dull as dishwater. No wonder people are less responsive.

Several months ago I visited the Apple Store with four iPods in various states of disrepair. One had a deceased hard drive, another could not longer take a charge and the other two were simply malfunctioning. Joe at the Genius Bar ever so cheerfully tackled each with ministerial zeal. Unfortunately his passion only went so far, two of my gaggle (I believe that’s what they call a group of iPods) were announced dead on arrival. “But they’re still babies” I protested. Joe said “not too worry, for $75 bucks you can buy a new Mini and we’ll give you 10% of your next iPod purchase.” Much to my surprise, I was actually appeased by this measly offering and dutifully bought a couple of replacements.

After that experience, I began to talk to friends about their iPods and it seemed that just about every iPod owner has had some sort of performance issue. Turns out the hard drives in iPods are rather sensitive fellows and don’t handle the bumps and grinds of daily life all the well which kind of a bummer for a product that is portable by design. It also turns out that the batteries Apple selected, particularly for the first batch of mini’s, were prone to ghosting, making them practically useless after a few charges. What is truly amazing is that none of these product problems dented Apple’s delicious reputation nor did it impact on-going sales (on the contrary, all the broken iPods simply meant the faithful needed to buy more!).

So, call me blasphemous, but I’m just not going to buy an iPhone…at least not for a while. Sure it looks unbelievable cool. Sure I hate being the last on my block to brandish the latest and greatest gadget. But unlike the nice-to-have iPod, I can’t afford to have a phone that could die at any second because of little bump in the road. Past experience tells me the first batch (5 million?) of iPhones will be sensitive little beauties and prone to death by merely jiggling. My phone is my lifeline and reliability is more important to me than any of the myriad of really cool features the iPhone promises. [On a side note, as a Verizon loyalist since AT&T/Cingular’s NYC coverage leaves a lot to be desired, it seems I don’t really have the option.]

Fortunately for Steve Jobs, the positive buzz about the iPhone is so super-charged that one voice of dissent is simply a lone fruit fly in a field of ripe apples. Eat up gang but mark my words, you better treat ‘em carefully and hang on to your old reliable cellphone just in case.